Auction
by Rinko-Chwan
Summary: There's an auction to be held at Hogwarts and Lily volunteers herself and Hugo to help organise! So where does James fit into all this? Next gen, multi chapt. James/Hugo Please R


A/n: I find James/Hugo sorta(REALLY) adorable and I actually wanted to do a one-shot but realised that I can't with this plot =.= This plot sort of struck me really hard because I've read at least 2 stories (not fanfic) with such a plot that involved a small part regarding an auction. And the plotbunny decided to pester me. There are other pairings I have thought about using this plot for but in the end decided with this pairing since there's so little of it here and the fics I read that includes short snippets of Hugo makes him a brat... Well, I can't really say that the characters ar ooc since there is no fixed character for them in the first place being the next generation (maybe that's why I chose this pairing...) So please R&R

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way possible.

Pairing(s): James/Hugo, Abit of Scorpius/Albus

Warning: Slash but not that much at all in this chapter. OCs Alert (that do not interfere in the plot but are just there to build up the story)

Note: I've made James 3 years older than Hugo and Lily because I wanted them to still be in school. James and Fred are in their seventh year, Rose, Albus and Scorpius are in their fifth year, the twins are in their sixth year and Hugo, Lily and my OCs are in their fourth year.-.-.

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Hugo peered at the paper Lily had handed to him.

"An auction?" He asked with one eyebrow raised. They were Fourth years and were on their way to Hogwarts.

"Yes," she chirped, "apparently there are a lot of things needed to be prepared and bought at the castle so Headmistress Berthough gave the green sign for having an auction."

"An auction to raise funds for the school? I thought that we were wizards! Can't we just repair the castle using magic?"

"There are things that can't be done by magic, if not we won't need money," Lily said, "and fixing the castle manually lasts longer."

"Fine, but what's it got to do with me?" At this, Lily smiled. Hugo inwardly felt like running out of his compartment, he could go find his sister…

"That's because an auction can't be set up by itself and…"

"You signed up to help?" Hugo nearly squeaked, he did not like where this was going.

"Yes and no," Hugo looked at her, confused. "I did sign up but not only to help, but to organise!"

"And where do I come in?" He sighed, knowing that he was going to be dragged into this.

"Well, since I was signing up I thought about if the auction went well, this could look really good in our profile next time when we're looking for jobs," Trust Lily to think so far ahead, Hugo thought. "So as you best friend and cousin, I signed you up to be in the organising committee too."

Hugo groaned, "I wanted to be relaxing the first semester back at school, not attending meetings!"

Lily shot him a glare, "don't be so whiny Hugo, years later you'll be thanking me!"

"That's what you always say," Hugo shot back.

"Oh yeah? Tell me one time—"

"During first year's Christmas you made me get a book on economics saying it'll help but that book got outdated last year, during second year you said that finding the secret passages in the castle will come in handy and we got caught before we found anything and landed with a week's detention and last year, don't even get me started on last year!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. I was young and I wasn't really thinking," Lily waved her arms, "this time it's different, this could be a great opportunity to help out and you can't back out once your name is there."

Hugo groaned, "Fine but this is the last time!" Lily clapped her hands, knowing that she had won this time.

"So what kind of auction is it?" Hugo asked after a moment of silence.

"You didn't read the paper I gave you?" Lily asked incredulously. The paper, sure enough, had been left forgotten in Hugo's hand.

"Well, the moment I saw 'Hogwarts Auctioning Fair', the rest didn't process," Hugo said, feeling his cheeks burning, "so just tell me already."

"It's not a normal auction," she began, "it's an auction whereby people sign up to be auctioned."

"Hold on, back up, people sign up to be auctioned?"

"Yes, like to be bought by the winning bidder for ranging from a day to a week depending on what the person signed up for."

"Doesn't that break like a hundred school rules ranging from No 261 No student own another student to No 543 No overly sexual behaviour in the school?"

Lily raised an eyebrow, "what makes you think about overly sexual behaviour? Like one could buy another to help out with homework or be on their team for quidditch and stuff. And it was approved by the headmistress herself, apparently she found it amusing."

"But will people actually sign up for such a thing?"

"Of course," Lily grinned, one that always made Hugo feel like she was plotting something sinister, "why, each person who signs up earns 5 points for their house, I presume the lines will be long."

"So when exactly is the auction?"

"Halloween night, the perfect day for the first auction in Hogwarts history in which we will be part of."

They were beginning to lapse back into peaceful silence when the compartment door flung open and James, with unruly auburn hair popped his head in, for someone of the Weasley family, he spotted a slight tan and was nearly all clear of freckles that adorned Lily's neck, much to her chagrin, and Hugo's nose.

"Oh, the two of you all alone in the compartment?" He smirked.

"Sod off," Lily said, "I don't see you with those goons you call friends."

"Hey now, no need for verbal attacks," he laughed as he sat next to Hugo and closed the door. "I just wanted to know what you two are up to, haven't seen either of you since the train started."

"You could go find Albus you know," Lily said.

James eyes trailed off to land on Hugo, hazel eyes met blue and Hugo turned away almost immediately. He was never good at holding eye contact especially with James.

"The wanker went off with Malfoy, as always," James replied, eyes glancing at Hugo one more time before turning to Lily, "so what are you two up to?"

James was in his last year of Hogwarts already so he had been trailing up and down the train so sort of imprint the pleasant memories of the past six years in his head before he graduates when he heard Lily's voice and decided to pop in.

"Lily went off and signed me up for something again," Hugo sighed yet again. James looked from Lily to Hugo to Lily.

"The only major event I heard from the twins just now is some kind of auction…" James trailed off, knowing that he had hit the mark when Hugo looked like he had been punched in the stomach while Lily had a victorious grin.

"Tough luck getting stuck with Lily," James sympathetically patted Hugo on the shoulder, sending tingles all over his body. Hugo was confused at his feelings but to keep the balance right, he'd rather not discover those feelings he had when James touched him or even looked at him.

What's more, Lily was looking with a critical eye; one he had known was not at all good after knowing her for all his life.

"You make it sound as if Lily and I are going out," Hugo said uncomfortably as he glanced at his older cousin who just happened to be looking at him with strong hazel eyes that made Hugo feel weak in the knees.

"Oh, you're not?" James said teasingly as he wrapped one arm around Hugo's neck and pulled him in for a noogie that he occasionally did. Hugo practically squawked in surprise but relaxed when he realised it was just a noogie. The faint scent of peaches emitted by James which Hugo could smell due to the close proximity of their bodies made him go into a daze. He might have fallen asleep even if not for Lily.

"We're just friends James," she said, eyes scanning the two of them infront of her, "get that in you dense head already."

She was implying something, Hugo thought, definitely implying. James released Hugo and stood up.

"That's what you always say Lily," he pointed out like Hugo did before, "and usually it never comes true."

Lily glared at him, she mouthed words at him. The thing about the potter children, Hugo noted was that they had all learned lip reading from their father when they were young in case for need of communication when talking is not aloud. What Uncle Harry did not realise was that his children were smart enough to turn it into a secret code for conversation when other's are around. Rose was smart enough to pick the skill up but Hugo could not, especially when Lily's mouth was moving at such a quick speed.

Hugo could only see James side profile when he stood but he too was talking back rather quickly. His face was also turning red, from anger or embarrassment, Hugo couldn't really tell as it looked like both.

"Erm… is everything okay?" Hugo couldn't help but break the silence since it was really awkward being in there with the two siblings quarrelling in silence.

"Everything's fine," James said a little stiffly, "I've got to go change into my robes so see you two at the Gryffindor table later."

With that, James left the compartment. "You're escaping!" Lily called after him and huffed as the compartment door slid shut.

"W-what was that about?"

"It's about having daft ignorant boys for brothers," she said. They proceeded to change into their robes and followed the large flow of students heading towards the castle.

The two of them sat down between James and Fred with the twins opposite them and Linda and Keith, friends of Hugo and James from the same year. Hugo was inevitably wedged between James and Lily, knowing that the dispute they had earlier was far from over.

"Tell Lily to pass the drumlets," James said to him once the sorting was over and the feast had started.

When Hugo related it to Lily, she said, "Tell James to stand up for himself."

It continued for a few more times before Hugo snapped, "you're just seated one seat away from each other! James, you're the big brother so act your age and Lily, face the problem like you always do already!"

"I am facing the problem," she muttered to herself, laughing at her own joke. Hugo looked at her quizzically, "What?"

She merely shook her head, "nothing. Fine, James, I hereby call this truce until we can further discuss the matter."

"Deal," they shook hands and returned back to normal.

"What happened?" The twins asked Hugo.

Hugo shrugged, "they were argueing in code." Lorcan nodded in understanding while Lysander looked from Lily to James, as if trying to figure them out.

"Hey Hugo," Linda said, she had been busy talking to Keith that she had heard none of the siblings quarrel, "have you heard of the auction yet?"

"Why is it that everyone seems to know?"

"Because there's such a thing called the Wiznet*, we're living in the age of technology and magic combined!" Lily huffed.

"Not only that, the teachers apparently calculated, figuring that the first to third years are too young to organise and the fifth to seventh year are too busy to organise so the whole committee is going to be made out of fourth years!" Linda said excitedly.

"She dragged me to sign up for it," Keith added, looking a bit reluctant, "and she saw your names on it so we figured that—"

"You signed up for it and signed Hugo up, without permission of course, to be in the committee—"Linda continued.

"Thinking that if it becomes a success, it'll look good in your profile next time when you're looking for a job—"Keith said.

"Or something like that," they both ended at the same time.

"I don't know what's scarier," Hugo said, looking at the mousy haired girl and the dark brown haired boy. "The fact that you two just finished each other off despite being not related at all or the fact that you two were absolutely correct!"

The two smirked and took it as a compliment as Lily pouted, muttering somewhere along 'but it will look good on the profile!'

"Anyone is allowed to sign up?" Fred asked grinning, he was already plotting away.

Keith nodded, "as long as you're not mentally ill, physically disabled and not flunking any subjects."

"Damn…" Fred cursed; they all knew he was flunking charms and higher arithmetic like no tomorrow. It was still a question why he chose to sign up for higher arithmetic and an even bigger mystery was why he had been accepted in the first place.

"Are any of you going to sign up?" James asked.

"I don't think that committee members are allowed to be sold," Lily said.

"We would," Lysander said, "if they allow us to sign up as a pair."

"You'd want to be sold?" James looked incredulous.

"It's for a good cause," Lorcan said, "and it earns points for Gryffindor."

"We'll tweak any rule that doesn't allow you to sign up in pairs in the first meeting," Linda grinned.

"You should sign up too, James," Lysander added, "It'll be fun."

"But I'm in the last year of school!"

"All the more," Hugo chirped in, enjoying this rare chance to annoy his cousin and ignore the way their arms were brushing against each other.

James groaned and glanced at Hugo, "not you two…"

"You could just offer to be sold for a day, take it as one off day," Hugo suggested.

"I could be bought by some squeaky first year who wants to bully around a senior," James said seriously, beginning to turn red in the face when the other's burst out laughing.

"There's a strict rule regarding that," Lily said after she had laughed for a good 5minutes. "No bullying, over exertion et cetera. There's a spell cast on each person before going off for bidding that will alert the nearest teacher if such acts are carried out. Everything was well thought out by the teacher's before they actually allowed this."

James huffed, "but I wouldn't want to be dragged around by some giggly girl all day either."

"You dated before right?" Fred said.

"Well… yeah but those were with people I actually liked!" He argued back.

"Don't be such a stick in the mud James, for Gryffindor… please?" Hugo gave his puppy eye look to James, he didn't really know why he was so insistent with James signing up but the others were encouraging also… James gulped, inwardly cursing the power of puppy eyes especially when it's…

"A-alright," he said, causing all seven of them to cheer. "I'm so going to regret this…"

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Albus heard some cheering from the Gryffindor table, smiling when he saw that it was from James and Lily's group.

Scorpius glanced at him, "do you still long to be seated with them at the Gryffindor table?" His grey eyes looking at him intently.

"Nope," he reached his arms out infront of Scorpius to grab the jug of pumpkin juice, "the Slytherin table is just as good with you here."

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Rose sat by the Ravenclaw table, chatting away happily with her friends regarding schoolwork and OWLS which they were supposed to take that year, completely oblivious to what her younger brother had gotten into. However, her sister antennae* were tingling, she could always talk to Hugo the next day.

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Note*:

Wiznet=Internet (LOL)

sister antennae=The sort of thing that Rose uses to sense when there's something wrong or something's happening to her sibling, namely, Hugo. I had no idea what to call it so I'll leave it to that unless anyone can suggest a better name.

A/n: Rose didn't really appear here but she will in the next chapter... I think. Albus and Scorpius too! (hopefully since I just write as I flow...) I know I'm being a hypocrite about making a multi chapt story when I put my other stories on hiatus but I have full blown inspiration for this story! So hopefully I'll finish this story but probably not within a month since my End of year exams are less than a month away. Till next time.

Please Review!


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